Doctors Hospital’s near $1 million restoration of its emergency room opened to the public Monday morning with the cutting of a ceremonial ribbon with a crowd of nearly 100 hospital and municipal staffers on hand.

Doctors’ CEO Nico Tejeda told the gathering from a lectern in the doorway that the project focused on three things: a lobby, a nurses’ station and a triage facility.

 “It was a remarkable collaboration and leadership by the emergency room, admitting, volunteers, plant operations and Corona Construction. Not only did we succeed in this endeavor, we thrived,” he said. “Patient satisfaction scores improved and wait times decreased since April.”

Tejeda said he is proud the facility is the only full-service acute care hospital in Manteca.  The emergency room has been under construction since April and now boasts 11 patient bays and rooms.  Several of the rooms are senior citizen friendly with special recliners, available reading glasses and amplification devices for the hearing impaired, pressure relieving mattresses and a senior friendly registration process.

Administrators in the Emergency Services Department RN Carla Stanley and Dr. John Woodbury, M.D., spoke briefly about the opening of the ER being extremely positive about their staff members.

Stanley made a point when she said, “Team work makes the dream work – today that comes to fruition.  For me that is the people in the trenches, the nurses, clerks, physicians in being open to the construction period.”

Manteca Mayor Willie Weatherford lauded the new emergency room noting the hospital has been an important part of the community for a long, long time adding that he wants to see it continue to be here in the future.  He said it was coincidental in that he had been there for a procedure himself earlier in the morning.

“The city stands willing and able to provide the needs of Doctors Hospital,” he said.

DHM sees some 28,000 patients come through its emergency room doors annually – with another 4,000 visits to the hospital and the births of 800 babies a year.